Advertise on TV?  You Must Be Kidding!!!!

John Cobb, owner of Cobb’s Westside Pharmacy in Russellville, Arkansas, has been advertising on TV for the past 7 years.  He says when he was first approached on the idea at a trade show in 2013, he told the person in the booth that he thought they must be kidding.  He couldn’t imagine that TV could work for his pharmacy, especially on his advertising budget.    

But Cobb says he listened, asked hard questions, thought what he heard made sense and decided to give TV try.  Seven years later he says TV has helped him in three ways:

1.      He has picked up new patients.  The biggest driver of new patients is his Sildenafil program.  But advertising his flavoring, free kids’ vitamin program and providing updates on his COVID response have all proven productive.

2.      He has expanded sales to existing patients.  Cobb says too often pharmacy owners fail to realize the biggest increase in sales they can get comes from getting current customers to utilize new services, such as immunizations or nutritional supplements.

3.      Being on TV boosts employee morale.  When team members tell people that they work at Cobb’s Westside Pharmacy they do so with pride as it is likely these people know good things about the pharmacy from his TV ads.

Cobb says none of this would be possible without the help of Judy Leventhal of Leventhal Productions.  He says Leventhal works with him to come up with the ideas for his ads and then she creates a custom buy-plan that targets the people most likely to benefit from the products or services each ad supports.    

Leventhal says she currently works with about 300 pharmacies.  The most important thing for TV to work is the pharmacy must be doing something that appeals to consumers.  TV ads that simply say we provide fast, accurate and friendly service won’t work.  Then she says, no matter what product or service you want to feature you need to look for an effective way to demonstrate its value.  Words and pictures are critical, which is what TV does best.    

Leventhal says a critical success factor is coming up with a customized buy plan.  “Finding the right balance between, what the ad says, how well it says it, how many people see the ads and how much it all costs is at the heart of what I think I do best for pharmacies,” she says. 

It has been my pleasure to know and work with Judy for nearly 20 years.  If you have any desire to check into this and see if TV could work for you can contact me at: BFKneeland@gmail.com